What Makes You Stay
by Darkchilde
Summary: ~Third in series 'Hope Floats'~When Jareth offers Sarah her dreams one more time...


What Makes You Stay  
  
By: Darkchilde  
  
midnights_jewel_purple@yahoo.com  
  
  
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The constant pounding of Sarah William's feet striking the hard packed earth was the only thing that broke the utter silence of the woods. No birds chirped in the trees, and no wind rustled the fallen leaves. The silence was like a vacuum, sucking up everything that dared to break it.   
  
Even if something had dared to disturb the silence, Sarah wouldn't have heard it. She was intent on making her feet run faster, to carry her away from the pain that resided in her mind and in her heart. Taking a shuddering breath, the girl pressed on, dodging a low hanging branch and continuing on.   
  
Sweat rolled down her face and clung to her clothes. The perspiration made the running clothes she wore cling to her body, something she hated. She never wore tight clothing, largely because the feel of something that close to her skin unnerved her.   
  
The young woman slowed to a walk, tugging her tank top away from her body and letting air pass between the cloth and her skin. Her sweaty ponytail whacked against the back of her neck in the most annoying fashion. She reached back, intent on twisting the hair away from her neck, and pulling it into a bun on the crown of her hair.   
  
That done, she continued her walk through the woods, trying to work up enough energy to run again. It seemed to her that it was easy to run for miles, just as long as she could make herself begin. That was always the hard part.   
  
Deciding that a break was in order, the young woman moved toward a tree, and sank down to sit beside it, leaning against the scratchy bark.   
  
Closing her eyes, Sarah took a deep breath, tasting the air. It tasted like pine and wild flowers, mixed together with the slightest bit of water. She could hear that water running in the back of her mind, talking merrily as it rolled over rocks and sticks to make it's way to the sea. A drop of water rolled down her cheek, splashing down on the ground, soaking into the hard packed brown dirt.   
  
Sweat, her mind decided, as her hand came up automatically to wipe away the rest of the droplets of water from her cheeks. Her hand came away wet, but not sticky like it should be with sweat. More water trickled down her face, and Sarah realized for the first time that it wasn't sweat, but tears that rolled down her cheeks.   
  
Sniffing, she scrubbed at her face with the back of her hand, trying to stop the tears that slowly trickled their way down her cheeks. Her breath caught in her throat, and came out sounding suspiciously like a sob. Shaking her head back and forth, the young woman clapped her hands over her face, trying to block from her mind that she was crying.   
  
"What is WRONG with me? Why am I sitting here crying!?" Sarah cried to the woods at large. No sound came back to answer her.   
  
Taking a deep shuddering breath, the girl tried to remain calm. There was no cause for her to be sitting here in the woods weeping like some baby. She took one more breath, and rose to her feet, telling herself that she was fine, that everything was fine.   
  
"But everything's not fine, is it Sarah?"   
  
The voice was so loud in the silent woods that she jumped nearly out of her skin. Whirling around, she tried to find the source of the voice, knowing with out a doubt who it would be. The cultured British tone, the way he pronounced her name…there was no doubt in her mind who it was.   
  
"Jareth." She stated, still trying to find the man speaking.   
  
"The very same." Came the voice again, this time right from behind her. Whirling, Sarah saw him for the first time in nearly six months.   
  
The Goblin King looked as wonderful as ever, she realized in a haze of something that might have been happiness in another setting. His golden hair was still long, and still hung around his face and to his shoulders, making her yearn to touch it. His clothes were still something out of a play, the black-knee high boots shiny, the gray pirate shirt open to revel the crescent shaped pendent on his chest, and his black tights were still…tight.   
  
He was leaning against a tree, fixing his leather glove with avid interest. For a split second, Sarah allowed herself the luxury of thinking that he was too scared to meet her gaze. Then reason overran pride, and she figured he just thought he was too good to look into her face.   
  
"How have you been, Sarah?" No one said her name the way he did, she realized. He drew the last syllable out, making it sound much longer, much more…sophisticated then it really was.   
  
"Fine." She spat out through gritted teeth, watching his reaction with glittering dark eyes.   
  
He sighed then, and looked up into her face, his mouth twisted into that infuriating smirk. She didn't even see him move, but suddenly he was there, just a few inches away from her face, his mismatched eyes boring into hers.   
  
"I thought we had established that you were not fine, Sarah." Jareth teased gently, trying to pull a reaction from the young woman. He was not denied that.   
  
"I. Am. Fine." Sarah slowly growled, clenching her teeth and glaring at him. It seemed that all she could do was glare, her eyes spitting fire.   
  
"Of course you are." And then he was leaning back against the tree, as nonchalant as if they were nothing more then old friends, instead of bitter enemies. "That's why you're sitting in the middle of these woods crying. That's why you sleep fourteen hours out of the day. That's why you're running ten, twenty miles a day. Tell me, Sarah, what are you running from?"   
  
"I am not running from a damn thing!" Sarah screamed at him, wishing she could slap the smirk right off his face. "I LIKE to run!"   
  
"Since when?" Jareth questioned, lifting an eyebrow.   
  
"Since…since...wait, how do YOU know everything that I've been doing?" Sarah demanded, his earlier words finally catching up to her. Realization dawned like the rising sun. "You've been spying on me, haven't you?"   
  
"Me? Spying on you?" Jareth asked, his strange eyes glittering in amusement.   
  
"You…you…" The girl couldn't come up with a vile enough insult to throw at the smirking face of the Goblin King.   
  
"Yes?" Jareth smiled, his eyes twinkling. He was enjoying this far too much, Sarah realized with annoyance.   
  
"What do you WANT Jareth?" Sarah demanded, her eyes sparking. "You have no--"   
  
"Please don't say that just yet." Jareth interrupted dryly, holding up a hand to ward off her words. "I've come to offer you a choice."   
  
"A WHAT?" Was Sarah's shrieked response.   
  
"A choice." Jareth reiterated.   
  
"Of?" She wanted to know, her curiosity piqued. Jareth smiled at her, his elongated canines startling the girl for a second.   
  
"Stay here, in your boring little existence, with people that don't understand you, that don't want you, in a world that is too dull and too boring to really appreciate you." Jareth began, his eyes watching her drop her gaze to her feet.   
  
"Or?" She mumbled, kicking at a stone that was lodged in the dirt of the path. The sunlight suddenly broke through the trees and landed on her hair, making the subtle red highlights dance in the afternoon light. The light reflected off her shiny locks and created a halo of light around her face and hair. But the light did nothing for her face, simply making it look more drawn and pale then it already was, as if the life and fire that he admired about her had simply been sucked out. Jareth blinked, trying to regain control over his heart, as it screamed for him to simply snatch her up and carry her away to the Underground.   
  
"Or, you can come with me. To the Underground." Jareth offered, studying her face with his odd mismatched eyes. Sarah looked up at him in shock, her mouth forming a perfect 'o'.   
  
"Go live…with you? In the Labyrinth?" Sarah whispered, her mind reeling.   
  
"Yes. In the castle, with me." Jareth explained again, his eyes still locked on her face. And quite a study in contractions it was right at that moment. It was a maelstrom of confusion, suspicion, curiosity, and perhaps the most miniscule amount of happiness.   
  
Did she want to live in the Labyrinth with Jareth? Did she want to leave her family and her life here? The answer to both questions was yes, she discovered to her amazement. She WANTED to be with Jareth, she WANTED to leave her entire life far behind her in this dull, magicless world. She WANTED the magic of the Labyrinth, she wanted to go…home. She wanted to go home to the Labyrinth.   
  
But she couldn't. Her heart, her longing to go to the place that had been her home since she first laid on it, lurched. Her mind tried to override the screaming of her heart's desire. It's a trick! Jareth can't be trusted!   
  
But to return home!   
  
We can't leave! What about Toby? You're mother, you're father?   
  
They wouldn't miss us!   
  
We can't go. We have to stay.   
  
That's not a good reason!   
  
It's the only one I need.   
  
Sarah closed her eyes, her final decision reached. A slow tear trickled down her cheek, and she opened her eyes to se Jareth staring back at her, his masked slipping just enough for her to see the worry in his eyes, and then the pain. He knew what was coming.   
  
"I can't. I just…can't." Sarah managed to say with out tripping over her own words.   
  
"May I ask what makes you stay?" Jareth asked, the mask slipping back into place as firmly as if it had never been moved.   
  
"I don't know…" Sarah whispered, her eyes searching the sky for the answer.   
  
"Then I must take my leave. But my offer stands Sarah, until you are brave enough to trust yourself and come home." The Goblin King said formally, before dissolving into a shower of sparkles. A white owl emerged, soaring through the trees, and leaving Sarah far behind.   
  
The girl spun around and ran for home, tears streaming down her cheeks as she ran for the safety of her own room and her bed, to lose herself in the dreams she wasn't sure were going to come to her ever again. Look at me  
I'm in a place  
I never thought I'd be  
  
Don't have the strength  
To fight anymore  
Or a reason not to leave  
  
So tell me why I still keep holding on  
To something I just cannot see  
  
What makes you stay  
When your world falls apart  
What makes you try one more time  
When it's not in your heart  
At the end of your rope  
When you can't find any hope  
You still look at her and say  
I just can't walk away  
Tell me what makes you stay  
  
I'm not afraid  
Of living alone  
I was alone before he came  
  
I've been in love  
Many times before  
But this time's not the same  
  
I've always been the first to say goodbye  
Now it's the last thing I can do  
  
What makes you stay  
When your world falls apart  
What makes you try one more time  
When it's not in your heart  
At the end of your rope  
When you can't find any hope  
You still look at her and say  
I just can't walk away  
Tell me what makes you stay  
  
When it goes this deep  
And feels this strong  
I can't convince myself  
That this love is wrong  
  
What makes you stay  
When your world falls apart  
What makes you try one more time  
When it's not in your heart  
At the end of your rope  
When you can't find any hope  
You still look at her and say  
I just can't walk away  
Tell me what makes you stay  
  
  
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End file.
